MacBook Air: The Solid State Drive Premium

kmhtkmhtkmhtkmhtkmhtkmht
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
The hefty premium for a Solid State Drive is not worth it - I do nothing productive on any of my Macs other than surf the internet and word process.



1.6 v 1.8Ghz? I am not paying the premium - the thing with mediocrity is that this product is but a toy, and as such, I am going for the cheapest option!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    chopper3chopper3 Posts: 293member
    but it's nice to have the option
  • Reply 2 of 15
    kmhtkmhtkmhtkmhtkmhtkmht Posts: 193member
    I paid £2,200 for a Sony Vaio TZ with a 32GB SSD - indeed, it's faster, but this is but a mere toy - and as such I am finding it hard to justify the £163.33 premium to upgrade from 1.6 to 1.8. I bet you this difference is minimal.



    If the HDD is user accessible, one can go buy a SSD for cheaper!
  • Reply 3 of 15
    kmhtkmhtkmhtkmhtkmhtkmht Posts: 193member
    P.s. Ordered the cheaper option!



    See you soon MacBook Air!
  • Reply 4 of 15
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    I'm going with the edit: meant standard not solid state - but I know of someone who just put in an order for a maxed out model, over $4k shpped.



    Quote:

    1.6 v 1.8Ghz? I am not paying the premium - the thing with mediocrity is that this product is but a toy, and as such, I am going for the cheapest option!



    I wouldn't call it a toy - I needed an ultraportable for web dev work and it's perfect - if the Eee PC had run OS X with any sort of reliability or speed i would've gone for that... this is a machine that many can get serious work done on in an unbeatably portable form factor. I'd say many other ultraportables fall into the 'toy' category before the Air... have you ever tried working on a 9" screen and mini-keyboard?
  • Reply 5 of 15
    pmjoepmjoe Posts: 565member
    If I had to guess, the 1.8" drive is going to be horrendously slow (I mean like night and day difference). Unfortunately, there isn't a go between option ... I was really hoping they'd include both a small 4-8GB flash drive for the OS and then the micro-drive for data storage.
  • Reply 6 of 15
    kmhtkmhtkmhtkmhtkmhtkmht Posts: 193member
    Steve Jobs called my current laptop out today - the Sony Vaio TZ.



    It's a 11.1" Screen. It works.



    What is also has in addition, is Biometric software - this is crucial for my sensitive files.



    I am an early adopter of the Air, having pre-ordered one now - but as mentioned, all I do is Word Process and Surf the Web. The 1.6Ghz, 80Gb PATA is suited for me. SSD is that much faster - technically. Operationally, I doubt users will see the difference the £500 pays for.
  • Reply 7 of 15
    ballmersteveballmersteve Posts: 138member
    Add 1200 to the price for one of these things!
  • Reply 8 of 15
    southerndocsoutherndoc Posts: 215member
    I'm curious how much additional battery life the SSD will provide.



    I'm approaching 55 GB of data on my current PowerBook. If I buy a MacBook Air, I will need to get the 80 GB disk drive just to ensure I have enough space for future music, movies, documents, applications, etc. The premium price is just not worth it.
  • Reply 9 of 15
    cubitcubit Posts: 846member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by southerndoc View Post


    I'm curious how much additional battery life the SSD will provide.




    Excellent question and one that I would consider too, though clearly the stability/security of data issue is also of interest. I'm looking forward to actually playing with one of these and probably adding it to my world for travel back and forth across the Pacific (5 hours battery life won't do it! ), but the idea of going through Customs with an envelope full of computer is a thrill in itself! and running in and out of libraries and research institutions with a super transportable machine, that still allows me to hook up to a projector [-- when will wireless there be possible??? ] is enough to put me on the edge.
  • Reply 10 of 15
    birdwellccbirdwellcc Posts: 27member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cubit View Post


    Excellent question and one that I would consider too, though clearly the stability/security of data issue is also of interest. I'm looking forward to actually playing with one of these and probably adding it to my world for travel back and forth across the Pacific (5 hours battery life won't do it! ), but the idea of going through Customs with an envelope full of computer is a thrill in itself! and running in and out of libraries and research institutions with a super transportable machine, that still allows me to hook up to a projector [-- when will wireless there be possible??? ] is enough to put me on the edge.



    I agree the SSD is very expensive, but I think the 1.8" 80GB HD at 4200 RPM is going to crawl. I wish there was a way to have a small amount of flash to just hold the OS and than a large drive, like the 1.8" to hold your applications and personal files. Thus providing the best of both worlds.
  • Reply 11 of 15
    kmhtkmhtkmhtkmhtkmhtkmht Posts: 193member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by birdwellcc View Post


    I wish there was a way to have a small amount of flash to just hold the OS and than a large drive, like the 1.8" to hold your applications and personal files. Thus providing the best of both worlds.



    In Vista, called ReadyBoost.
  • Reply 12 of 15
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kmhtkmhtkmht View Post


    In Vista, called ReadyBoost.



    Was it ever released? I remember hearing about it followed by a mountain of delays. I do know the current Vaio TZ's support ReadyBoost, with a smaller SSD and larger HDD for roughly the same price of the Air with just an SSD.
  • Reply 13 of 15
    birdwellccbirdwellcc Posts: 27member
    ReadyBoost in Vista is not holding the OS itself on sometype of flash media. Readyboost uses a small amount of flash, typically from a USB thumb drive to cache frequently used files to increase boot times etc. Intel developed a technology, I believed is called Robinson, which has 2 or 4 GB of flash built directly onto the logic board to do what ReadyBoost in Vista is doing, without having to have the flash drive sticking out of one of your USB ports, which is not an ideal solution for a laptop.



    Let's have a small 16GB partition of flash to hold Mac OS on, than the slow 1.8" 4200RPM main drive to hold the applications and personal files on, that is what I was invisioning.
  • Reply 14 of 15
    iammacuseriammacuser Posts: 77member
    SSD is a nice option but it is very new technology, while I really want the Macbook Air I feel that If I wait for Rev.B maybe C you'll see that SSD prices will drop.
  • Reply 15 of 15
    iammacuseriammacuser Posts: 77member
    Readyboost is a Joke.
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